The present disclosure relates to redirecting a portion of airflow generated by functioning fans located in an electronic enclosure to components downstream of failed fans located in the electronic enclosure.
Electronics enclosures may include redundant fans, or air-moving devices (AMDs), to prevent overheating of power-dissipating components in the event of an AMD failure. Upon the failure of an AMD, the remaining functional AMDs may increase their respective airflow rates to compensate for the failed AMD. However, despite the increase in total system airflow rate, the ability of the remaining functional AMDs to effectively cool each individual component within the enclosure may be limited due to uneven spatial distribution of the airflow in a region directly downstream of the failed AMDs.
Often the components (processor, memory modules, etc.) directly downstream of a failed AMD receive less airflow than neighboring components and in turn experience higher temperatures and decreased performance. In addition, the failure of a second AMD may require the system to shut down in an effort to protect itself from thermally induced damage. This forced shutdown is often required due to the resulting misdistribution of airflow within the system rather than lack of sufficient total system airflow.